Media Vision Fusion 16 CD May Not Be Compatible w/Windows NT

• Microsoft Windows NT operating system version 3.1
• Microsoft Windows NT Advanced Server version 3.1

SUMMARY

Some versions of the Media Vision Fusion 16 CD kit are not compatible with Windows NT. Some versions of the kit come with proprietary CD-ROM drive interfaces and CD-ROM drives.

MORE INFORMATION

The Media Vision Fusion 16 CD kit comes with a ProAudio Spectrum (PAS) sound card which has a CD-ROM interface built into it. Media Vision ships at least three different versions of the Pro AudioSpectrum 16 sound card. Two have proprietary interfaces and are shipped with the Media Vision Fusion 16 CD kits. The third version of the card ships with the standard 50-pin SCSI interface. This card ships standalone or as part of the new DoubleSpeed Fusion 16 kits bundled with an NEC CD-ROM drive. The 50-pin SCSI is the only PAS interface supported under Windows NT. The other two Fusion CD kits and their respective cards do not function under NT.

The easiest way to differentiate between the cards is to look at the connecting pin layout. The oldest PAS Fusion CD 16 kit came with the Philips/LMSI CM205 CD-ROM drive and has a proprietary 16-pin connection on the PAS 16 card. The interim version of the PAS Fusion CD 16 kit came with a Sony CDU-31a and also had a proprietary 34-pin connnection on the PAS 16 card. The only PAS 16 board that comes with the Fusion CD 16 and is supported under Windows NT is the 50-pin SCSI version that is shipping in the newest Fusion CD 16 kit with the NEC drive. Neither of the proprietary interfaces work under Windows NT.

NOTE: Although the 50-pin SCSI version is the only one supported, in many cases to obtain CD-Audio output the user must plug into the jack on the front of the CD-ROM drive and into the LINE-IN on the back of the PAS 16. This is a known problem with the current driver. An updated version may be available soon. Data accessibility should function normally.

An additional way to tell the cards apart is to look in the CONFIG.SYS file and determine which CD-ROM driver is in use under MS-DOS. The Philips/LMSI CD-ROM driver is called DD250.SYS and the Sony driver is called SLCD.SYS. The standard SCSI driver for the PAS 16 board is TSLCDR.SYS.

If at the time of purchase you are trying to decide which board and drive combination is in the box, both the Philips/LMSI and the Sony Fusion CD 16 kits are labeled on the box as having such drives. Additionally, it is only the newest version of the Fusion CD 16 kit with the NEC CD-ROM drives that are being shipped with the SCSI 50-pin PAS. At no time prior to this did the Fusion CD 16 kit ship with the 50-pin SCSI board.

NOTE: The Windows NT supplied driver for the Sony CDU-31a will not work in conjunction with the PAS 16. The CDU-31a must be used with the proprietary board supplied with the drive in order for the Windows NT driver to work.

Reference:

Media Vision Fusion 16 Instruction Manual

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